CD Reviews

And now for something completely different!

Pater Ecstaticus | Norway | 01/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Different film ... different soundtrack! You can count on the genius of John Williams to create something so daringly 'different' and 'new', certainly when compared with his music for 'Jurassic Park'. It is a sign of highest artistic honesty that John williams here went ahead without trying to cash in on the success of his music for 'Jurassic Park' by reusing any of his themes from that film, only just hinting at them now and then. The only time when the renowned 'big themes' come along is during the final 'Finale and Jurassic Park Theme'. I like to see this as a little reward to the listener, as if John Williams is saying: I have created something completely new, and I really appreciate that you like it, so now I would like to treat you with a nice encore. Anyhow, artistically, John Williams simply HAD to take another direction, because the wide-eyed wonder and happy excitement of the first Jurassic Park could of course not be repeated in The Lost World. With The Lost World we have taken the next logical step: the overwhelming awe and excitement of Jurassic Park (seeing dinosaurs alive for the very first time!) has worn of and has been replaced by darker sentiments. The Lost World is not - like in Jurassic Park - about the awe and humility before the beauty and intricacy of Nature and the fear of incontrolability of scientific experiments. The Lost World necessarily had to go beyond that: what to do now that 'bad guys' have taken over. (That is why Jurassic Park III was an artistic failure: it didn't take the next logical step, but was just repeating the same moves again in a rather uninspired way, causing it to become an uninspired movie of much lower artistic quality.) John Williams' music for The Lost World is indeed approprately 'different'. There are no stately or grand themes to be found here to carry the musical (and dramatic) argument. The music for The Lost World is more like a constantly pumping nervous heartbeat. This music for The Lost World is not as 'operatic' like that for Jurassic Park. Here, there aren't any 'resolutions' with grand and magnificent, easily recognizable themes. But in their place has come music of great subtlety and intricacy, creating more of a darker 'undercurrent' that flows with the emotions and events as they pass along in the movie. Much of the music is characterized by dissonance, all marvellously done of course (what else would you expect from John Williams!), underpinning the tensions and (nearing) danger. In the action-centered pieces, or in the music which accompanies tense situations, John Williams makes even more use of (exotic) percussion here than in Jurassic Park. For example, 'The Hunt' and 'The Raptors Appear' are quite exciting musical romps. All in all, this music for The Lost World is indeed very, very different from the music from jurassic Park, and therefore quite refreshing to the ears of this listener. I, for one, am very glad that John Williams - in all his artistic honesty - has chosen to compose this specific music. These two soundtracks stand aside one another as total but very different masterworks for the movies, and can BOTH easily be listened to on their own as independent works of musical artistry."

Is everyone nuts? This soundtrack is brilliant!!

tallguy | Chicago, IL | 03/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't believe everyone is saying "this isn't as good as Jurassic Park." If anything, it is a whole lot BETTER than the soundtrack to the first movie. The main theme track (track 1), Rescuing Sarah and The Hunt are absolutely brilliantly orchestrated. Anyone who doesn't think so is just silly.Unfortunately, the movie itself was horrible - not suspenseful, just dumb. And like most John Williams music in movies, the sound level in the movie is so low that you can't even HEAR the soundtrack, so that is very disappointing.This very dark soundtrack is great! It is very underrated because it is one of John's best soundtracks -- much more subtle than many others. Highly recommended."

Another great piece from a premier music maker

Reginald D. Garrard | Camilla, GA USA | 10/10/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While "Jurassic Park," with its tale of cloning long-extinct dinosaurs and bringing them to life in the present, is steeped in contemporary possibilities, "The Lost World" is more a throwback to the "big monster" films of the 1950's. Thus, John Williams does more of a Max Steiner/"King Kong" thing with the score to the latter. It is bombastic, frenetic, resulting in a composition of thrilling brilliance. Some of the themes from the first score are interpolated differently and are almost subtle in their execution, but that befits a story wherein much of the action takes place in modern-day San Diego, involving a "fish-out-of-water" Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Williams effectively uses tribal drums throughout to convey the "jungle feel," regardless of the on-screen setting. The best cut of all is "The Hunt," a truly exciting piece that reminds one of Jerry Goldsmith's similarly-titled selection from the classic "Planet of the Apes."

The score to "The Lost World" is far superior to the composer's later work for such Spielberg fare as "Minority Report" and "The War of the Worlds," scores that lack the depth and ingenuity of the former.

"The Lost World" can stand almost toe-to-toe with the composer's landmark creations for "Jaws" and "Star Wars.""

Good, but not as good as the first

Brandon Cutro | Tyler, Texas United States | 01/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The score to The Lost World is a good one, but not as good as the score to the first one. John Williams returned to score the sequel and surprisingly, his main themes from the first one are hardly used at all in this 69 minute score. If you're expecting the themes from the first film to return in full force and take your breath away, you will probably be disappointed. Bits and pieces of them occur here and there (especially in the last track), but for the most part, the score contains lots of new material. The new theme that Williams came up with is The Lost World theme and is played in a concert like fashion in the first track. Although not quite as good as the other themes, it still stands out as a great one with plenty of brass and percussion. Lots of the music has a South American influence to it with lots of percussion, mainly tom-toms. "The Raptor Attack" is a pounding action cue with chasing tom-toms and frightening brass lines. "Rescuing Sarah" is another great action cue with the same style tom-toms and percussion and a big, grand finale. The theme for the Stegosaurus is a nice one with strings being the primary instrument. "Ludlow's Theme" contains some frantic and exciting string work that Williams will later use in his score to "Minority Report". "Visitor in San Diego" is a 7 minute plus action cue that contains those big John Williams sounds that we know and love. "Finale and Jurassic Park Theme" end the score nicely with a reprise of the main themes from the first film, played in a quicker tempo than usual, that were largely underused in this one. One small complaint is the CD packaging which contains a fold-out dinosaur pop up display and a bad place to put the CD which could leave some scratches on it if not placed nicely in the slot in the back of the foldout thing. Overall, a good score and one that is so much different than the first."